editorial essay what is organizational research for

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Organization and Structure

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

There is no single organizational pattern that works well for all writing across all disciplines; rather, organization depends on what you’re writing, who you’re writing it for, and where your writing will be read. In order to communicate your ideas, you’ll need to use a logical and consistent organizational structure in all of your writing. We can think about organization at the global level (your entire paper or project) as well as at the local level (a chapter, section, or paragraph). For an American academic situation, this means that at all times, the goal of revising for organization and structure is to consciously design your writing projects to make them easy for readers to understand. In this context, you as the writer are always responsible for the reader's ability to understand your work; in other words, American academic writing is writer-responsible. A good goal is to make your writing accessible and comprehensible to someone who just reads sections of your writing rather than the entire piece. This handout provides strategies for revising your writing to help meet this goal.

Note that this resource focuses on writing for an American academic setting, specifically for graduate students. American academic writing is of course not the only standard for academic writing, and researchers around the globe will have different expectations for organization and structure. The OWL has some more resources about writing for American and international audiences here .

Whole-Essay Structure

While organization varies across and within disciplines, usually based on the genre, publication venue, and other rhetorical considerations of the writing, a great deal of academic writing can be described by the acronym IMRAD (or IMRaD): Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This structure is common across most of the sciences and is often used in the humanities for empirical research. This structure doesn't serve every purpose (for instance, it may be difficult to follow IMRAD in a proposal for a future study or in more exploratory writing in the humanities), and it is often tweaked or changed to fit a particular situation. Still, its wide use as a base for a great deal of scholarly writing makes it worthwhile to break down here.

• Introduction : What is the purpose of the study? What were the research questions? What necessary background information should the reader understand to help contextualize the study? (Some disciplines include their literature review section as part of the introduction; some give the literature review its own heading on the same level as the other sections, i.e., ILMRAD.) Some writers use the CARS model to help craft their introductions more effectively.
• Methods: What methods did the researchers use? How was the study conducted? If the study included participants, who were they, and how were they selected?
• Results : This section lists the data. What did the researchers find as a result of their experiments (or, if the research is not experimental, what did the researchers learn from the study)? How were the research questions answered?
• Discussion : This section places the data within the larger conversation of the field. What might the results mean? Do these results agree or disagree with other literature cited? What should researchers do in the future?

Depending on your discipline, this may be exactly the structure you should use in your writing; or, it may be a base that you can see under the surface of published pieces in your field, which then diverge from the IMRAD structure to meet the expectations of other scholars in the field. However, you should always check to see what's expected of you in a given situation; this might mean talking to the professor for your class, looking at a journal's submission guidelines, reading your field's style manual, examining published examples, or asking a trusted mentor. Every field is a little different.

Outlining & Reverse Outlining

One of the most effective ways to get your ideas organized is to write an outline. A traditional outline comes as the pre-writing or drafting stage of the writing process. As you make your outline, think about all of the concepts, topics, and ideas you will need to include in order to accomplish your goal for the piece of writing. This may also include important citations and key terms. Write down each of these, and then consider what information readers will need to know in order for each point to make sense. Try to arrange your ideas in a way that logically progresses, building from one key idea or point to the next.

Questions for Writing Outlines

• What are the main points I am trying to make in this piece of writing?
• What background information will my readers need to understand each point? What will novice readers vs. experienced readers need to know?
• In what order do I want to present my ideas? Most important to least important, or least important to most important? Chronologically? Most complex to least complex? According to categories? Another order?

Reverse outlining comes at the drafting or revision stage of the writing process. After you have a complete draft of your project (or a section of your project), work alone or with a partner to read your project with the goal of understanding the main points you have made and the relationship of these points to one another. The OWL has another resource about reverse outlining here.

Questions for Writing Reverse Outlines

• What topics are covered in this piece of writing?
• In what order are the ideas presented? Is this order logical for both novice and experienced readers?
• Is adequate background information provided for each point, making it easy to understand how one idea leads to the next?
• What other points might the author include to further develop the writing project?

Organizing at the sentence and paragraph level

Signposting.

Signposting is the practice of using language specifically designed to help orient readers of your text. We call it signposting because this practice is like leaving road signs for a driver — it tells your reader where to go and what to expect up ahead. Signposting includes the use of transitional words and phrasing, and they may be explicit or more subtle. For example, an explicit signpost might say:

This section will cover Topic A­­ and Topic B­­­­­.

A more subtle signpost might look like this:

It's important to consider the impact of Topic A­­ and Topic B­­­­­.

The style of signpost you use will depend on the genre of your paper, the discipline in which you are writing, and your or your readers’ personal preferences. Regardless of the style of signpost you select, it’s important to include signposts regularly. They occur most frequently at the beginnings and endings of sections of your paper. It is often helpful to include signposts at mid-points in your project in order to remind readers of where you are in your argument.

Questions for Identifying and Evaluating Signposts

• How and where does the author include a phrase, sentence, or short group of sentences that explains the purpose and contents of the paper?
• How does each section of the paper provide a brief summary of what was covered earlier in the paper?
• How does each section of the paper explain what will be covered in that section?
• How does the author use transitional words and phrases to guide readers through ideas (e.g. however, in addition, similarly, nevertheless, another, while, because, first, second, next, then etc.)?

WORKS CONSULTED

Clark, I. (2006). Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: Entering the conversation . Prentice Hall Press.

Davis, M., Davis, K. J., & Dunagan, M. (2012). Scientific papers and presentations . Academic press.

• Architecture and Design
• Asian and Pacific Studies
• Business and Economics
• Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Computer Sciences
• Cultural Studies
• Engineering
• General Interest
• Geosciences
• Industrial Chemistry
• Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Library and Information Science, Book Studies
• Life Sciences
• Linguistics and Semiotics
• Literary Studies
• Materials Sciences
• Mathematics
• Social Sciences
• Sports and Recreation
• Theology and Religion
• Publish your article
• The role of authors
• Promoting your article
• Abstracting & indexing
• Publishing Ethics
• Why publish with De Gruyter
• How to publish with De Gruyter
• Our book series
• Our subject areas
• Your digital product at De Gruyter
• Contribute to our reference works
• Product information
• Tools & resources
• Product Information
• Promotional Materials
• Orders and Inquiries
• FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
• Repository Policy
• Free access policy
• Open Access agreements
• Database portals
• For Authors
• Customer service
• People + Culture
• Journal Management
• How to join us
• Working at De Gruyter
• Mission & Vision
• De Gruyter Foundation
• De Gruyter Ebound
• Our Responsibility
• Partner publishers

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

A Platform for Debating the Role of Organization in, for, and Throughout Society

1 welcome to joso.

Writing this introductory essay for the journal on which we have worked for so many years entails some problems, not just emotionally (because we worked so hard on it), but more generally where this format is concerned. Of course, an introduction needs to set forth the tasks and relevant phenomena to be addressed in the journal. And we should be responsible for crafting it. Moreover, together with a group of diverse scholars, many of them strongly connected to the Research Committee 17 “Sociology of Organizations” of the International Sociological Association (ISA RC 17), we already defined a scope for the Journal of Organizational Sociology (JOSO). At the same time, we see a strong need to resist defining narrowly what a sociology of organization supposedly is , a question that immediately comes up when reading JOSO’s title. What we certainly can say is that, for us, organizational sociology entails taking organization seriously as a specific phenomenon or as a specific concept that is more than just a mere synonym for social order in general. Apart from that though, we will not provide a definition, because we want to embrace the different definitions that are out there and see such definitions rather as reflecting something that is in flux and continually recreated. Therefore, you, the (future) contributors to JOSO, are at the center of defining this sub-field of sociology in rather practical terms!

The relation between organizational sociology and the discipline of sociology. Although arguably not the first entry on the list of contributions reflecting on organizational sociology, a highly recognized panel session about the question “Does Organizational Sociology Have a Future?” at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in 2014 and a subsequent virtual panel on “the future of organizational sociology” ( Gorman 2014 ) sparked much discussion in the international as well as national communities of organizational sociology. Sessions on “Disappearing organization? Reshaping the sociology of organizations” at the World Congress of Sociology in 2018 and a special issue in Current Sociology with the same title are among some of the further contributions to the debate ( Besio, du Gay, and Serrano Velarde 2020 ). Recent years have moreover brought us a myriad of new handbooks, textbooks, and other reference works on organizational sociology – in many different languages ( Adler 2009 ; Adler et al. 2014 ; Apelt et al. 2020 ; Ballé 2021 ; Godwyn 2022 ; Jaime and Lucio 2018 ; Marín 2013 ; Misset 2017 ; Pichierri 2014 ). Additionally, the prestigious book series “Research in the Sociology of Organizations”, which is sponsored by the ASA Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work, significantly increased its publication frequency a couple of years ago. This comes along with several interconnected debates, e.g. on the role of organizational sociology in addressing classical topics of sociology, such as social inequalities ( Ray 2019 ; Stephenson et al. 2020 ; Tomaskovic-Devey and Avent-Holt 2019 ; Wooten and Couloute 2017 ), how societies deal with fundamental transformations, e.g. digitalization ( Kette and Tacke 2022 ), sustainable transitions ( Moseñe et al. 2013 ), globalization and cosmopolitan cultures ( Lauer 2022 ), and crisis ( Bergeron et al. 2020 ; Bode, Jungmann, and Serrano Velarde 2023 ). Others see a need to revisit the long-standing diagnosis of an organization society ( Arnold, Hasse, and Mormann 2021 ; Bartley, Soener, and Gershenson 2019 ; Haveman 2022 ; see the contributions in Arnold, Hasse, and Mormann 2022 ; Borraz 2022 ). Moreover, there are a myriad of works that showcase the relevance of organizational sociology by leveraging its insights to analyze pressing social phenomena, such as standardization ( Loconto and Arnold 2022 ), social movements ( Ho 2018 ; Pimentel and Grothe-Hammer 2022 ; Schneiberg and Lounsbury 2017 ); healthcare ( Trotter 2020 ); the transformation of corporate elites ( Mizruchi 2013 ); the re-organization of welfare-regimes ( Bode 2006 ); religious organizing ( Sundberg 2020 ); and the growing influence of digital platforms ( Ametowobla and Kirchner 2023 ; Rachlitz 2023 ).

The relation between organizational sociology and organization studies and critical management studies ( Clegg and Pina e Cunha 2019 ). Analogous to the debate about the relevance and usefulness of organizational sociology in sociology, there has also been much debate on its role in the field of organization studies. Organization studies are usually described as an inter- or multidisciplinary field with sociology being one of its parent disciplines ( Scott 2020 ). However, in recent decades a growing divide between both has been observed ( Adler et al. 2014 ). Despite sociology’s crucial relevance for the emergence and institutionalization of organization studies as a distinctive field of research, it is nowadays often described as being pushed to the margins. Considering though that many of the current dominating paradigms in organization theory in fact stem from sociology ( Grothe-Hammer and Kohl 2020 ), an important question has been whether and how the sociological input to organization studies should be maintained. Prominent voices in organization studies have pointed to a striking lack of theoretical innovation in the field ( Ahrne, Brunsson, and Seidl 2016 ; Davis 2015a ; Tourish 2020 ), and as Ringel (forthcoming) points out, organization studies will remain dependent on importing knowledge from sociology. A subtheme on “Doing organizational sociology in organization studies” at the EGOS Colloquium in 2022 and an upcoming Volume on ”Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship” ( Clegg, Grothe-Hammer, and Serrano Velarde forthcoming ) in the prestigious book series “Research in the Sociology of Organizations” are markers of this debate.

The debate on revisiting, dissolving or maintaining formal organization as the “core object”. We can observe two opposed developments in recent years. On the one hand, scholars have pointed out that organization studies have become strangely disinterested in their own core subject, i.e. organization ( Ahrne, Brunsson, and Seidl 2016 ; du Gay 2020 ). On the other hand, in a kind of counter-movement, many have revived the classic question of “what is organization” and come up with new approaches to understand and theorize organization. Scholars have proposed to conceptualize organization as fluid ( Schreyögg and Sydow 2010 ), as process ( Czarniawska 2014 ; Hernes 2014 ), or as partial ( Ahrne and Brunsson 2011 ), or even to shift the notion from organization to “organizationality” ( Dobusch and Schoeneborn 2015 ; Grothe-Hammer 2019 ). As a consequence, there are ongoing debates on both how to deal with post-bureaucratic organizational forms ( Clegg, Harris, and Höpfl 2011 ) and how to “rehabilitate” the classic formal organization ( du Gay and Vikkelsø 2016 ). These debates cannot be disconnected from societal transformations fueling the tendency to revise recent organizational forms and concepts of organizations, e.g. trends towards projectification ( Baur, Besio, and Norkus 2018 ; Sydow and Windeler 2020 ), decentering the workplace ( Klemsdal and Clegg 2022 ), the continuous imperative of innovation and recreation ( Fligstein 2021 ; Serrano 2010 ; Windeler and Jungmann 2022 ) or the unstable organizing of liquid modernity ( Bauman 2023 ). An important line of inspiration might be abstract social theories (see Adler et al. 2014 ; Jungmann, Grothe-Hammer, and Andersen forthcoming ), rediscovering and updating the classics (e.g. Bartley, Soener, and Gershenson 2019 ; Grothe-Hammer 2020 ; Jungmann forthcoming ; van Krieken 2018 ), taking new conceptual sources into account (e.g. Gherardi 2019 ), or discovering concepts for new organizational forms from empirical studies, be they ethnographic ( O’Doherty 2017 ), historical ( March, Schulz, and Zhou 2000 ), or comparative translations of organizational forms in different parts of the world ( Zhou 2021 ).

These three themes and the debates revolving around them, have been driving the development of JOSO. We felt the need to complement this important intellectual process with a more practical endeavor – a continual platform for debate in organizational sociology at a global level. Such a site of debate, so the idea within our group emerged, could provide answers to these questions from patterns in recent works and in a more bottom-up fashion.

Although this is our motivation behind the journal, the most obvious question we had to answer in convincing a publisher that this is worthwhile and still have to answer in finding contributors and readers, is: why? Why do we need this journal? Isn’t there lots of sociology in the existing outlets in organization studies? Isn’t there a lot of organizational research going on in the existing sociology journals? Our answer here is “yes … but”. We fully agree that there is much excellent sociological research published in journals devoted to organization studies. And we are fully aware that there is much outstanding organizational research in sociology outlets (see Grothe-Hammer and Kohl 2020 ; King 2022 ). And as a result, we heard this question a couple of times: why do we need a journal for organizational sociology? For us though, the answer is simple: exactly because organizational sociology is sitting between two chairs ( Lammers 1981 ; Ringel forthcoming ; Thoenig 1998 ) – organization studies on the one hand and sociology on the other – scholars who in fact do their work in this area, sometimes have issues connecting to either of the two disciplines. As many have observed, organization studies have over the decades developed their own publishing norms and discourses. They have fairly standardized paper formats, their own language, their own expectations about “incremental theory development” ( Bort and Schiller-Merkens 2011 ; Tourish 2020 ), and last but not least a significant bias for business-related themes ( Augier, March, and Sullivan 2005 ). Scholars who, in one way or the other, work “too sociologically” have had their issues with these field-specific norms. But publishing organizational research in sociology journals obviously also comes with its own challenges – albeit different ones. Although in sociology one usually is not faced with publication norms which are nearly as standardized as in organization studies, organization-related research so far has needed to be published either in a generalist sociology journal or in a specialized sub-field differing from organizational sociology. The result is another form of adaptation, i.e. scholars needed to write their papers predominantly for other sociologists but not for the organizational researchers among the sociologists.

We want to stress that this description of challenges is not to say that scholars of organizational sociology would not know how to publish in organization studies and sociology journals. The issue is rather that many of them would often prefer to target their work differently, i.e. publishing a sociological paper for an audience of organizational researchers or an organizational paper for an audience of sociologists. The new Journal of Organizational Sociology (JOSO) is supposed to be the outlet for these scholars.

3 A Journal for Whom?

Although we experienced mostly support when developing our journal, some scholars seem to wonder if our intention has been to “put up boundaries” between organization studies and organizational sociology. However, these said boundaries are already there. Many have pointed out time after time that the field of organization studies has in fact become a subdivision of business studies – “business school organization studies” as Augier, March, and Sullivan (2005) called it – and that other disciplines such as organizational sociology have been pushed to the margins ( Ringel forthcoming ). In sociology, on the other hand, researchers are all the time confronted with organizations in almost all their fields of study – be it, e.g. hospitals in medical sociology, care homes in the sociology of aging, or schools in the sociology of education. However, they barely connect to a field of organization studies that has become so detached from sociological work that it’s largely inaccessible – a “mystery house” as Davis (2015b) puts it. As a result, many in sociology in fact do study organizations but do not do organization studies.

Our intention is thus the exact opposite of putting up boundaries. Instead we want to establish a forum across the boundary that is already there – to reconnect the study of organizations in sociology with organization studies. JOSO intends to be at the intersection, to turn the “sitting between chairs” into an actual coupling. Since its inception, organization studies have been drawing on sociology for inspiration and the other way around – sociologists studying organizations referred to the richness of interdisciplinary organization theory and research. Therefore, JOSO is intended to be a journal not only for sociologists but for anyone doing sociology with a focus on organization(s). We cannot stress enough that we do not care if someone submitting an article is a sociologist or not – whether by affiliation or education – as long as their organizational research is de facto sociological. We signal this intention with the staffing of our board, and with the articles in this first issue. As we write in our aims and scope: Submissions featuring mainstream perspectives in organizational sociology are as welcome as articles that advance or apply alternative sociological perspectives. In addition, submissions featuring psychological, managerial, educational, or other theories and themes are welcome, as long as they make a distinctive sociological argument and contribute to sociological debates with specific reference to questions of organizational structure, dynamics, processes, practices, interaction or culture.

We want to bring together the best of both worlds, i.e. the vast plurality of styles, theories, and themes from sociology, and the interest and understanding of organizations from organization studies. We aim to advance the sociological understanding of organization(s), inquiring into their ever-changing internal workings and their relations with each other, as well as examining how organization(s) and society shape each other. It is intended to be a worldwide forum for scholarly debate that encompasses everything pertaining to the nexus between organization and society.

The journal understands society in a broad sense, spanning face-to-face settings, intimate relationships, friendships, and families, fields, markets, and networks, social classes and inequalities, as well as social domains such as politics, civil society, media, culture, religion, science, sports, economy, social work, arts, kinship, ecology, health, love, and so on. The uniqueness of the Journal of Organizational Sociology is its dual focus on (1) the sociology of organizations, but also on (2) the organizational aspects of forms of social life more generally. The journal thus is intended to explore the full spectrum of the organizational dimensions of sociology. It will cover the full range of sociological theory traditions and writing styles; no tradition in sociology or organizational theory is favored above another.

The four papers in this first issue of JOSO signal this broad understanding of society and organizational sociology. Organizational sociology might start with a fundamental perspective on the social, as in the paper “Organisation as Reflexive Structuration” by Günther Ortmann, Jörg Sydow and Arnold Windeler with reference to Anthony Giddens’ works in social theory, and seek inspiration for understanding organization in recent society there. Contrariwise, organizational sociology might start with ethnographic field-work in a non-Western case and challenge many of the (Western) reader’s scientific assumptions about agency in and for organizations, as in the study “ Relational Agency as a Dialectic of Belonging and Not Belonging Within the Social Ecology of Plantation Life in Sri Lanka ” conducted by Ann L. Cunliffe and Geetha Karunanayake . Moreover, an organizational lens can be helpful in explaining how different nation-states have reacted to a large-scale social crisis, as, for example in Olivier Borraz, and Bengt Jacobsson’s comparative analysis “ Organizing Expertise During a Crisis. France and Sweden in the Fight Against Covid-19 ”. At the same time, organizational sociology might just as well explain why an individual terrorist was not stopped by the police, even if he had been recognized as a potential thread for a long time, as presented in Henrik Dosdall’s and Theresa Löckmann’s in-depth study “ Exploring Terrorism Prevention: An Organizational Perspective on Police Investigations ”. Taken together, these texts provide us with an impression how rich organizational sociology is in understanding and explaining multiple social phenomena of our times.

4 Special Thanks!

The first ideas for developing a journal dedicated to organizational sociology date back to the year 2016 and several scholars have been discussing and exploring possibilities over the years since then. In January 2021 finally, a group of scholars – many of whom are active members of ISA RC 17 – consisting of Göran Ahrne, Dzifa Ametowobla, Nadine Arnold, Cristina Besio, Stewart Clegg, Thiago Duarte Pimentel, Paul du Gay, Raimund Hasse, Robert van Krieken, Mikaela Sundberg, Arnold Windeler, and us, began to develop a proposal and strategy for the journal. The group developed a full proposal document and decided to connect the journal with ISA RC 17. First of all, we want to thank this group for their enthusiasm and mindful suggestions! After talks with different publishers, the journal proposal development group and the RC17 board decided to go with De Gruyter. We would like to thank the whole team at De Gruyter, especially Darren Green who worked for long with us on developing the Journal and Ulrike Kitzing, our Journal Manager, who has always been engaged in helping us with practical issues. Finally, we would like to thank two institutions which provided the necessary funding for this endeavor: the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, and the Stiftung Universität Luzern, Switzerland. Finally, we received valuable suggestions from seven anonymous reviewers on the initial proposal.

Now that this work is done, it is up to us – the authors, reviewers, editors, and readers – to perform what organizational sociology is, will be, and should be.

Adler, P. S., ed. 2009. The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies: Classical Foundations . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199535231.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

Adler, P. S., P. Du Gay, G. Morgan, and M. I. Reed, eds. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social Theory, and Organization Studies: Contemporary Currents . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199671083.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

Ahrne, G., and N. Brunsson. 2011. “Organization Outside Organizations: The Significance of Partial Organization.” Organization 18 (1): 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410376256 . Search in Google Scholar

Ahrne, G., N. Brunsson, and D. Seidl. 2016. “Resurrecting Organization by Going Beyond Organizations.” European Management Journal 34 (2): 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2016.02.003 . Search in Google Scholar

Ametowobla, D., and S. Kirchner. 2023. “The Organization of Digital Platforms: The Role of Digital Technology and Architecture for Social Order.” Zeitschrift für Soziologie 52 (2): 143–56. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2023-2012 . Search in Google Scholar

Apelt, M., I. Bode, R. Hasse, U. Meyer, V. V. Groddeck, M. Wilkesmann, and A. Windeler, eds. 2020. Handbuch Organisationssoziologie . Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 10.1007/978-3-658-15953-5 Search in Google Scholar

Arnold, N., R. Hasse, and H. Mormann. 2021. “Organisationsgesellschaft neu gedacht: Vom Archetyp zu neuen Formen der Organisation.” Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie & Sozialpsychologie 73 (3): 339–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-021-00795-3 . Search in Google Scholar

Arnold, N., R. Hasse, and H. Mormann. 2022. “Organisationsgesellschaft »reloaded«. Organisationsweisen und Herausforderungen im 21. Jahrhundert.” Soziale Welt 73 (3): 419–24. https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2022-3-419 . Search in Google Scholar

Augier, M., J. G. March, and B. N. Sullivan. 2005. “Notes on the Evolution of a Research Community: Organization Studies in Anglophone North America, 1945–2000.” Organization Science 16 (1): 85–95. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1040.0108 . Search in Google Scholar

Ballé, C. 2021. Sociologie des organisations , 10th updated ed. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 10.3917/puf.balle.2021.01 Search in Google Scholar

Bartley, T., M. Soener, and C. Gershenson. 2019. “Power at a Distance: Organizational Power Across Boundaries.” Sociology Compass 13 (10): e12737. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12737 . Search in Google Scholar

Bauman, Z. 2023. “Organization for Liquid-Modern Times?” Critical Sociology , online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/08969205231170923 . Search in Google Scholar

Baur, N., C. Besio, and M. Norkus. 2018. “Projectification of Science as an Organizational Innovation: A Figurational Sociological Perspective on Emergence, Diffusion, and Impact.” In Innovation Society Today: Perspectives, Fields, and Cases , edited by W. Rammert, A. Windeler, H. Knoblauch, and M. Hutter, 341–70. Wiesbaden: VS Springer. Search in Google Scholar

Bergeron, H., O. Borraz, P. Castel, and F. Dedieu. 2020. Covid-19: une crise organisationnelle . Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. 10.3917/scpo.berge.2020.01 Search in Google Scholar

Besio, C., P. du Gay, and K. Serrano Velarde. 2020. “Disappearing Organization? Reshaping the Sociology of Organizations.” Current Sociology 68 (4): 411–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907613 . Search in Google Scholar

Bode, I. 2006. “Disorganized Welfare Mixes: Voluntary Agencies and New Governance Regimes in Western Europe.” Journal of European Social Policy 16 (4): 346–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928706068273 . Search in Google Scholar

Bode, I., R. Jungmann, and K. Serrano Velarde, eds. 2023. Staatliche Organisationen und Krisenmanagement . Baden-Baden: Nomos. 10.5771/9783748936794 Search in Google Scholar

Borraz, O., ed. 2022. La société des organisations . Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. 10.3917/scpo.borra.2022.01 Search in Google Scholar

Bort, S., and S. Schiller-Merkens. 2011. “Reducing Uncertainty in Scholarly Publishing: Concepts in the Field of Organization Studies, 1960–2008.” Schmalenbach Business Review 63 (4): 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03396823 . Search in Google Scholar

Clegg, S., M. Grothe-Hammer, and K. Serrano Velarde, eds. forthcoming. Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship. Research in the Sociology of Organizations . Bingley: Emerald Publishing Ltd. Search in Google Scholar

Clegg, S., and M. Pina e Cunha, eds. 2019. Management, Organizations and Contemporary Social Theory . London: Routledge. 10.4324/9780429279591 Search in Google Scholar

Clegg, S. R., M. Harris, and H. Höpfl, eds. 2011. Managing Modernity: Beyond Bureaucracy? Oxford: Oxford University Press. Search in Google Scholar

Czarniawska, B. 2014. A Theory of Organizing . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Search in Google Scholar

Davis, G. F. 2015a. “Celebrating Organization Theory: The After-Party.” Journal of Management Studies 52 (2): 309–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12094 . Search in Google Scholar

Davis, G. F. 2015b. “Editorial Essay: What is Organizational Research for?” Administrative Science Quarterly 60 (2): 179–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839215585725 . Search in Google Scholar

Dobusch, L., and D. Schoeneborn. 2015. “Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communicative Constitution of Anonymous.” Journal of Management Studies 52 (8): 1005–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12139 . Search in Google Scholar

du Gay, P. 2020. “Disappearing ‘Formal Organization’: How Organization Studies Dissolved Its ‘Core Object’, and What Follows From This.” Current Sociology 68 (4): 459–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907644 . Search in Google Scholar

du Gay, P., and S. Vikkelsø. 2016. For Formal Organization: The Past in the Present and Future of Organization Theory . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198705123.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

Fligstein, N. 2021. “Innovation and the Theory of Fields.” AMS Review 11 (3–4): 272–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-021-00202-2 . Search in Google Scholar

Gherardi, S. 2019. How to Conduct a Practice-Based Study: Problems and Methods . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 10.4337/9781788973564 Search in Google Scholar

Godwyn, M., ed. 2022. Research Handbook on the Sociology of Organizations . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Search in Google Scholar

Gorman, E. 2014. “The End of ‘Organizational Sociology’ as We Know It?” Work in Progress (blog). https://workinprogress.oowsection.org/2014/11/20/the-end-of-organizational-sociology-as-we-know-it/ (accessed November 20, 2014). Search in Google Scholar

Grothe-Hammer, M. 2019. “Organization Without Actorhood: Exploring a Neglected Phenomenon.” European Management Journal 37 (3): 325–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2018.07.009 . Search in Google Scholar

Grothe-Hammer, M. 2020. “Membership and Contributorship in Organizations: An Update of Modern Systems Theory.” Systems Research and Behavioral Science 37 (3): 482–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2683 . Search in Google Scholar

Grothe-Hammer, M., and S. Kohl. 2020. “The Decline of Organizational Sociology? An Empirical Analysis of Research Trends in Leading Journals Across Half a Century.” Current Sociology 68 (4): 419–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907627 . Search in Google Scholar

Haveman, H. A. 2022. The Power of Organizations. A New Approach to Organizational Sociology . Princeton: Princeton University Press. 10.1515/9780691238050 Search in Google Scholar

Hernes, T. 2014. A Process Theory of Organization . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695072.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

Ho, M. S. 2018. “From Mobilization to Improvisation: The Lessons from Taiwan’s 2014 Sunflower Movement.” Social Movement Studies 17 (2): 189–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2017.1377603 . Search in Google Scholar

Jaime, P., and F. Lucio. 2018. Sociologia das Organizações: Conceitos, Relatos e Casos . São Paulo: Cengage do Brasil. Search in Google Scholar

Jungmann, R. forthcoming. “Rulership and Its Organization. Differentiated Organizational Concepts in Weber’s Thought.” In Weber’s Sociological Thought on Economy , edited by A. Maurer. Newcastle: Agenda Press. Search in Google Scholar

Jungmann, R., M. Grothe-Hammer, and N. Å. Andersen. forthcoming. “Re-Vitalizing the Concept of Organization: Inspirations from Recent Social Theory.” Introduction to a Special Issue of the Journal Critical Sociology . Search in Google Scholar

Kette, S., and V. Tacke. 2022. “Die Organisation im Zoo der Digitalisierungsforschung.” Soziale Systeme 26 (1–2): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1515/sosys-2021-0001 . Search in Google Scholar

King, B. J. 2022. “Revitalizing Organizational Theory Through a Problem-Oriented Sociology.” Full paper presented at the EGOS subtheme “Doing Sociology in Organization Studies”. Search in Google Scholar

Klemsdal, L., and S. Clegg. 2022. “Defining the Work Situation in Organization Theory: Bringing Goffman Back In.” Culture and Organization 28 (6): 471–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2022.2090563 . Search in Google Scholar

Lammers, C. J. 1981. “Contributions of Organizational Sociology: Part I: Contributions to Sociology – A Liberal View.” Organization Studies 2 (3): 267–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/017084068100200304 . Search in Google Scholar

Lauer, S. 2022. “Cosmopolitan Social Infrastructure and Immigrant Cross-Ethnic Friendship.” Current Sociology , online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921221102983 . Search in Google Scholar

Loconto, A. M., and N. Arnold. 2022. “Governing Value(s) and Organizing Through Standards.” International Sociology 37 (6): 601–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809221133055 . Search in Google Scholar

March, J. G., M. Schulz, and X. Zhou. 2000. The Dynamics of Rules: Change in Written Organizational Codes . Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10.1515/9781503618411 Search in Google Scholar

Marín, A. L., ed. 2013. Sociología de las Organizaciones . Madrid: Editorial Fragua. Search in Google Scholar

Misset, S. 2017. Introduction à la sociologie des organisations . Paris: Armand Colin. Search in Google Scholar

Mizruchi, M. S. 2013. The Fracturing of the American Corporate Elite . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10.4159/harvard.9780674075368 Search in Google Scholar

Moseñe, J. A., R. L. Burritt, M. V. Sanagustín, J. M. Moneva, and J. Tingey-Holyoak. 2013. “Environmental Reporting in the Spanish Wind Energy Sector: An Institutional View.” Journal of Cleaner Production 40: 199–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.08.023 . Search in Google Scholar

O’Doherty, D. P. 2017. Reconstructing Organization: The Loungification of Society . London: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/978-1-137-48922-7_1 Search in Google Scholar

Pichierri, A. 2014. Sociologia dell’organizzazione . Rome/Bari: Editori Laterza. Search in Google Scholar

Pimentel, T. D., and M. Grothe-Hammer. 2022. “Apresentação do dossiê temático ação coletiva, movimentos sociais e organização: trabalhos selecionados do fórum ISA 2021 e além.” Teoria e Cultura 17 (2): 8–13. Search in Google Scholar

Rachlitz, K. 2023. “Platform Organising and Platform Organisations.” puntOorg International Journal 8 (1): 3–35. Search in Google Scholar

Ray, V. 2019. “A Theory of Racialized Organizations.” American Sociological Review 84 (1): 26–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418822335 . Search in Google Scholar

Reed, M. 2023. “Sociology of Organizations in the Twenty-First Century.” International Sociology 38 (2): 163–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809231158208 . Search in Google Scholar

Ringel, L. forthcoming. “The Uncertain Giant and the Ousted King. The Relationship Between (Organizational) Sociology and Organization Studies.” In Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship. Research in the Sociology of Organizations , edited by S. Clegg, M. Grothe-Hammer, and K. Serrano Velarde. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Ltd. Search in Google Scholar

Schneiberg, M., and M. Lounsbury. 2017. “Social Movements and the Dynamics of Institutions and Organizations.” In The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism , edited by R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, T. B. Lawrence, and R. E. Meyer, 281–310. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. 10.4135/9781446280669.n12 Search in Google Scholar

Schreyögg, G., and J. Sydow. 2010. “Organizing for Fluidity? Dilemmas of New Organizational Forms.” Organization Science 21 (6): 1251–62. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0561 . Search in Google Scholar

Scott, A. 2020. “Prodigal Offspring: Organizational Sociology and Organization Studies.” Current Sociology 68 (4): 443–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907639 . Search in Google Scholar

Serrano, M. M. 2010. “A Gestão de Recursos Humanos: Suporte Teórico, Evolução da Função e Modelos.” In SOCIUS Working papers 01/2010 . Lisbon: Socio-Economics Research Centre at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG) of the Technical University of Lisbon. Search in Google Scholar

Stephenson, J. H., N. Persadie, A. M. Bissessar, and T. Esnard. 2020. Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Caribbean Organisations and Society . London: Palgrave. 10.1007/978-3-030-47614-4 Search in Google Scholar

Sundberg, M. 2020. “The Politics of Monastic Life: Opportunities for Exit and Voice in a Voluntary Total Institution.” European Journal of Sociology/Archives Européennes de Sociologie 61 (1): 103–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003975619000171 . Search in Google Scholar

Sydow, J., and A. Windeler. 2020. “Temporary Organizing and Permanent Contexts.” Current Sociology 68 (4): 480–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907629 . Search in Google Scholar

Thoenig, J.-C. 1998. “How Far is a Sociology of Organizations Still Needed?” Organization Studies 19 (2): 307–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069801900207 . Search in Google Scholar

Tomaskovic-Devey, D., and D. Avent-Holt. 2019. Relational Inequalities: An Organizational Approach . New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780190624422.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

Tourish, D. 2020. “The Triumph of Nonsense in Management Studies.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 19 (1): 99–109. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2019.0255 . Search in Google Scholar

Trotter, L. J. 2020. More Than Medicine: Nurse Practitioners and the Problems They Solve for Patients, Health Care Organizations, and the State . Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 10.7591/cornell/9781501748141.001.0001 Search in Google Scholar

van Krieken, R. 2018. “Towards Process-Figurational Theory in Organization Studies.” Cambio 8 (16): 141–57. Search in Google Scholar

Windeler, A., and R. Jungmann. 2022. “Complex Innovation, Organizations, and Fields: Toward the Organized Transformation of Today’s Innovation Societies.” Current Sociology , online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921221078042 . Search in Google Scholar

Wooten, M. E., and L. Couloute. 2017. “The Production of Racial Inequality Within and Among Organizations.” Sociology Compass 11 (1): e12446. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12446 . Search in Google Scholar

Zhou, X. 2021. “Chinese Bureaucracy Through Three Lenses: Weberian, Confucian, and Marchian.” Management and Organization Review 17 (4): 655–82. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2021.34 . Search in Google Scholar

© 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

• X / Twitter

Supplementary Materials

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

Journal and Issue

Articles in the same issue.

Editorial Essay: What Is Organizational Research For?

1,631  citations

316  citations

245  citations

240  citations

View 1 citation excerpt

Cites background from "Editorial Essay: What Is Organizati..."

... The field of management and many others are currently debating the credibility, trustworthiness, and usefulness of the scholarly knowledge that is produced (Davis, 2015; George, 2014; Grand et al., in press). ...

11,977  citations

5,003  citations

4,999  citations

2,068  citations

1,064  citations

Related Papers (5)

Ask Copilot

Related papers

Contributing institutions

¿En qué podemos ayudarle?

• Co n gresos

Editorial essay : : What is organizational research for?

• Autores: Gerald F. Davis
• Localización: Administrative science quarterly , ISSN 0001-8392, Vol. 60, Nº 2, 2015 , págs. 179-188
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Dialnet Métricas : 4 Citas

Organizational research is guided by standards of what journals will publish and what gets rewarded in scholarly careers. This system can promote novelty rather than truth and impact rather than coherence. The advent of big data, combined with our current system of scholarly career incentives, is likely to yield a high volume of novel papers with sophisticated econometrics and no obvious prospect of cumulative knowledge development. Moreover, changes in the world of organizations are not being met with changes in how and for whom organizational research is done. It is time for a dialogue on who and what organizational research is for and how that should shape our practice

Acceso de usuarios registrados

• Dialnet Plus

Opciones de compartir

Opciones de entorno.

• Sugerencia / Errata

© 2001-2024 Fundación Dialnet · Todos los derechos reservados

• Accesibilidad
• Aviso Legal
• R e gistrarse

How to Write an Editorial?

• Open Access
• First Online: 24 October 2021

Cite this chapter

You have full access to this open access chapter

• Samiran Nundy 4 ,
• Atul Kakar 5 &
• Zulfiqar A. Bhutta 6  

42k Accesses

11 Altmetric

An Editorial is defined as an opinion or a view of a member of the editorial board or any senior or reputed faculty written in a journal or newspaper. The statement reflects the opinion of the journal and is considered to be an option maker. If you have been asked to write an editorial it means that you are an expert on that topic. Editorials are generally solicited.

Editorial writers enter after battle and shoot the wounded Neil Goldschmidt, American Businessman and Politician (1940–…)

You have full access to this open access chapter,  Download chapter PDF

Similar content being viewed by others

The Journal Editor as Academic Custodian

Preparing the Manuscript

1 what is an editorial, 2 how is the topic for an editorial chosen.

This is decided by the members of the editorial board and is usually related to important work which is about to be published in the journal. If you are invited to write an editorial on a topic of your choosing you should preferably write one on a general or public health problem that might interest a wide readership [ 1 ].

3 What Should be the Contents of an Editorial?

It has been said that ‘Editors, by and large, are reticent people, with a magnified sense of their own importance. Well, this may hurt some, but before they jump at our throats, let us clarify that we belong there as well’. The editorial should not look like an introduction to an original article or a self-glorifying piece of fiction.

Editorial writing has been compared to a double-edged sword, you can be apolitical and pragmatic but at the same time dogmatic in your views. The majority of editorials provide the readers a balanced view of the problems raised in a particular research paper and place them in a wider context. But there is no harm in going to extremes if the data supports your view. However, you should not mock the paper’s authors [ 2 ].

4 What Is the Basic Information Required for Writing an Editorial?

First, read the paper for which the editorial has been asked again and again. Do a literature search and critically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the study. Read about how and why other authors came to similar or different conclusions. Discuss whether or not the findings are important [ 3 ].

An editorial should be brief, about one to two pages long, but it should be powerful. The language should be a combination of good English and good science. The writing can be ‘embellished by language but not drowned in it’. While a good editorial states a view, it does not force the reader to believe it and gives him the liberty to form his own opinion.

5 What Are the Steps Involved in Writing an Editorial?

Choose a topic intelligently.

Have a catchy title.

Declare your stance early.

Build up your argument with data, statistics and quotes from famous persons.

Provide possible solutions to the problem.

Follow a definite structure consisting of an introduction, a body that contains arguments and an end with a tailpiece of a clear conclusion. It should give the reader a chance to ponder over the questions and concerns raised.

6 What Are the Types of Editorial?

Editorials can be classified into four types. They may:

Explain or interpret : Editors use this type of editorial to explain a new policy, a new norm or a new finding.

Criticize: this type of editorial is used to disapprove of any finding or observation.

Persuade: These encourage the reader to adopt new thoughts or ideas.

Praise: These editorials admire the authors for doing something well.

7 What Is the Purpose of an Editorial?

An editorial is a personal message from the editor to the readers. It may be a commentary on a published article or topic of current interest which has not been covered by the journal. Editorials are also written on new developments in medicine. They may also cover non-scientific topics like health policy, law and medicine, violence against doctors, climate change and its effect on health, re-emerging infectious diseases, public interventions for the control of non -communicable diseases and ongoing epidemics or pandemics [ 4 ].

8 What Are the Instructions for Writing Editorials in Major Journals?

Many editorials written by in-house editors or their teams represent the voice of the journal. A few journals allow outside authors to write editorials. The details for these suggested by some of the leading journals are given in Table 26.1 .

9 What Is a Viewpoint?

A Viewpoint is a short article that focuses on some key issues, cutting-edge technology or burning topics or any new developments in the field of medicine. It can be a ‘personal opinion’ or any piece of information, which gives the author’s perspective on a particular issue, supported by the literature. Viewpoints can also be unencumbered by journal policy. The normal length of viewpoints can flexible. The BMJ, for instance, also allows viewpoints to be written by patients.

Viewpoints may share a few common features with commentaries, perspectives and a focus which is a brief, timely piece of information. It is like a ‘spotlight’ that contains information on research funding, policy issues and regulatory issues whereas a commentary is an in-depth analysis of a current matter which can also include educational policy, law besides any other seminal issue.

10 Conclusions

An editorial is written to provide a crisp, concise overview of an original article. It is generally deemed to be an honour to be asked to write an editorial.

One needs to follow the general instructions for writing editorials for a particular journal.

It should have an objective and the flow of ideas should be clear.

Squires BP. Editorials and platform articles: what editors want from authors and peer reviewers. CMAJ. 1989;141:666–7.

CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Singh A, Singh S. What is a good editorial? Mens Sana Monogr. 2006;4:14–7.

Article   Google Scholar  

Cleary M, Happell B, Jackson D, Walter G. Writing a quality editorial. Nurse Author & Editor. 2012;22:3.

Article types at The BMJ. Last accessed on 12th July 2020. Available on https://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-authors/article-types

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India

Samiran Nundy

Department of Internal Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India

Institute for Global Health and Development, The Aga Khan University, South Central Asia, East Africa and United Kingdom, Karachi, Pakistan

Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Nundy, S., Kakar, A., Bhutta, Z.A. (2022). How to Write an Editorial?. In: How to Practice Academic Medicine and Publish from Developing Countries?. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5248-6_26

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5248-6_26

Published : 24 October 2021

Publisher Name : Springer, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-16-5247-9

Online ISBN : 978-981-16-5248-6

eBook Packages : Medicine Medicine (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• U.S. Locations
• UMGC Europe
• Learn Online
• Find Answers
• 855-655-8682
• Current Students

Online Guide to Writing and Research

The research process, explore more of umgc.

• Online Guide to Writing

Structuring the Research Paper

Formal research structure.

These are the primary purposes for formal research:

enter the discourse, or conversation, of other writers and scholars in your field

learn how others in your field use primary and secondary resources

find and understand raw data and information

For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research.  The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

Usually, research papers flow from the general to the specific and back to the general in their organization. The introduction uses a general-to-specific movement in its organization, establishing the thesis and setting the context for the conversation. The methods and results sections are more detailed and specific, providing support for the generalizations made in the introduction. The discussion section moves toward an increasingly more general discussion of the subject, leading to the conclusions and recommendations, which then generalize the conversation again.

Sections of a Formal Structure

The introduction section.

Many students will find that writing a structured  introduction  gets them started and gives them the focus needed to significantly improve their entire paper. 

Introductions usually have three parts:

presentation of the problem statement, the topic, or the research inquiry

purpose and focus of your paper

summary or overview of the writer’s position or arguments

In the first part of the introduction—the presentation of the problem or the research inquiry—state the problem or express it so that the question is implied. Then, sketch the background on the problem and review the literature on it to give your readers a context that shows them how your research inquiry fits into the conversation currently ongoing in your subject area. 

In the second part of the introduction, state your purpose and focus. Here, you may even present your actual thesis. Sometimes your purpose statement can take the place of the thesis by letting your reader know your intentions. 

The third part of the introduction, the summary or overview of the paper, briefly leads readers through the discussion, forecasting the main ideas and giving readers a blueprint for the paper. 

The following example provides a blueprint for a well-organized introduction.

Example of an Introduction

Entrepreneurial Marketing: The Critical Difference

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, John A. Welsh and Jerry F. White remind us that “a small business is not a little big business.” An entrepreneur is not a multinational conglomerate but a profit-seeking individual. To survive, he must have a different outlook and must apply different principles to his endeavors than does the president of a large or even medium-sized corporation. Not only does the scale of small and big businesses differ, but small businesses also suffer from what the Harvard Business Review article calls “resource poverty.” This is a problem and opportunity that requires an entirely different approach to marketing. Where large ad budgets are not necessary or feasible, where expensive ad production squanders limited capital, where every marketing dollar must do the work of two dollars, if not five dollars or even ten, where a person’s company, capital, and material well-being are all on the line—that is, where guerrilla marketing can save the day and secure the bottom line (Levinson, 1984, p. 9).

By reviewing the introductions to research articles in the discipline in which you are writing your research paper, you can get an idea of what is considered the norm for that discipline. Study several of these before you begin your paper so that you know what may be expected. If you are unsure of the kind of introduction your paper needs, ask your professor for more information.  The introduction is normally written in present tense.

THE METHODS SECTION

The methods section of your research paper should describe in detail what methodology and special materials if any, you used to think through or perform your research. You should include any materials you used or designed for yourself, such as questionnaires or interview questions, to generate data or information for your research paper. You want to include any methodologies that are specific to your particular field of study, such as lab procedures for a lab experiment or data-gathering instruments for field research. The methods section is usually written in the past tense.

THE RESULTS SECTION

How you present the results of your research depends on what kind of research you did, your subject matter, and your readers’ expectations. 

Quantitative information —data that can be measured—can be presented systematically and economically in tables, charts, and graphs. Quantitative information includes quantities and comparisons of sets of data. 

Qualitative information , which includes brief descriptions, explanations, or instructions, can also be presented in prose tables. This kind of descriptive or explanatory information, however, is often presented in essay-like prose or even lists.

There are specific conventions for creating tables, charts, and graphs and organizing the information they contain. In general, you should use them only when you are sure they will enlighten your readers rather than confuse them. In the accompanying explanation and discussion, always refer to the graphic by number and explain specifically what you are referring to; you can also provide a caption for the graphic. The rule of thumb for presenting a graphic is first to introduce it by name, show it, and then interpret it. The results section is usually written in the past tense.

THE DISCUSSION SECTION

Your discussion section should generalize what you have learned from your research. One way to generalize is to explain the consequences or meaning of your results and then make your points that support and refer back to the statements you made in your introduction. Your discussion should be organized so that it relates directly to your thesis. You want to avoid introducing new ideas here or discussing tangential issues not directly related to the exploration and discovery of your thesis. The discussion section, along with the introduction, is usually written in the present tense.

THE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION

Your conclusion ties your research to your thesis, binding together all the main ideas in your thinking and writing. By presenting the logical outcome of your research and thinking, your conclusion answers your research inquiry for your reader. Your conclusions should relate directly to the ideas presented in your introduction section and should not present any new ideas.

You may be asked to present your recommendations separately in your research assignment. If so, you will want to add some elements to your conclusion section. For example, you may be asked to recommend a course of action, make a prediction, propose a solution to a problem, offer a judgment, or speculate on the implications and consequences of your ideas. The conclusions and recommendations section is usually written in the present tense.

Key Takeaways

• For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research. 
•  The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more about how we use cookies by reading our  Privacy Policy .

The Geography of Capital Allocation in the Euro Area

We assess the pattern of Euro Area financial integration adjusting for the role of “onshore offshore financial centers” (OOFCs) within the Euro Area. The OOFCs of Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands serve dual roles as both hubs of investment fund intermediation and centers of securities issuance by foreign firms. We provide new estimates of Euro Area countries' bilateral portfolio investments which look through both roles, attributing the wealth held via investment funds to the underlying holders and linking securities issuance to the ultimate parent firms. Our new estimates show that the Euro Area is less financially integrated than it appears, both within the currency union and vis-a-vis the rest of the world. While official data suggests a sharp decline in portfolio home bias for Euro Area countries relative to other developed economies following the introduction of the euro, we demonstrate that this pattern only remains true for bond portfolios, while it is artificially generated by OOFC activities for equity portfolios. Further, using new administrative evidence on the identity of non-Euro Area investors in OOFC funds, we document that the bulk of the positions constituting missing wealth in international financial accounts are now accounted for by United Kingdom counterparts.

We thank the Stanford Impact Labs, the NSF (1653917), the Andrew Carnegie Corporation, the Sloan Foundation, and the Jerome A. Chazen Center for financial support. We thank Luca Fornaro, Galina Hale, Zhengyang Jiang, Niels Johannesen, Philip Lane, Alberto Martin, Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, Pablo Ottonello, Diego Perez, Isabel Schnabel, Hyun Song Shin, Paolo Surico, Alexandra Tabova, Silvana Tenreyro, Liliana Varela, Adrien Verdelhan, Frank Warnock, and Gabriel Zucman for helpful comments. We are also grateful to Sergio Florez-Orrego, Bianca Piccirillo, Ziwen Sun, and Serdil Tinda for outstanding research assistance. The ECB has provided access to proprietary data and research support services. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the ECB. Coppola, Lewis, Maggiori, and Schreger are unpaid consultants of the ECB for the purpose of accessing data for this project, while Beck and Schmitz are employed by the ECB. Our analysis makes use of data that are proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any of the views expressed in this article. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Financial support was provided by the Harvard Business School Doctoral Programs Office, Princeton University, and a Harvard University International Economics grant. Markit had the right to review this paper for disclosure of proprietary data and for prejudicial statements regarding Markit or its industry. Schreger: No interests to disclose. Hébert: Hébert’s spouse works in the financial services industry and has business interactions with firms involved in the litigation described in this paper. His spouse has not contributed to or participated in the preparation of this paper, and neither Hébert nor his spouse have a direct or material indirect financial interest in the outcome of the litigation.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Download Citation Data

Working Groups

Conferences, more from nber.

In addition to working papers , the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter , the NBER Digest , the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability , the Bulletin on Health , and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship  — as well as online conference reports , video lectures , and interviews .

A Solar Eclipse Means Big Science

By Katrina Miller April 1, 2024

• Share full article

On April 8, cameras all over North America will make a “megamovie” of the sun’s corona, like this one from the 2017 eclipse. The time lapse will help scientists track the behavior of jets and plumes on the sun’s surface.

There’s more science happening along the path of totality →

An app named SunSketcher will help the public take pictures of the eclipse with their phones.

Scientists will use these images to study deviations in the shape of the solar surface , which will help them understand the sun’s churning behavior below.

The sun right now is approaching peak activity. More than 40 telescope stations along the eclipse’s path will record totality.

By comparing these videos to what was captured in 2017 — when the sun was at a lull — researchers can learn how the sun’s magnetism drives the solar wind, or particles that stream through the solar system.

Students will launch giant balloons equipped with cameras and sensors along the eclipse’s path.

Their measurements may improve weather forecasting , and also produce a bird’s eye view of the moon’s shadow moving across the Earth.

Ham radio operators will send signals to each other across the path of totality to study how the density of electrons in Earth’s upper atmosphere changes .

This can help quantify how space weather produced by the sun disrupts radar communication systems.

(Animation by Dr. Joseph Huba, Syntek Technologies; HamSCI Project, Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, the University of Scranton, NSF and NASA.)

NASA is also studying Earth’s atmosphere, but far from the path of totality.

In Virginia, the agency will launch rockets during the eclipse to measure how local drops in sunlight cause ripple effects hundreds of miles away . The data will clarify how eclipses and other solar events affect satellite communications, including GPS.

Biologists in San Antonio plan to stash recording devices in beehives to study how bees orient themselves using sunlight , and how the insects respond to the sudden atmospheric changes during a total eclipse.

Two researchers in southern Illinois will analyze social media posts to understand tourism patterns in remote towns , including when visitors arrive, where they come from and what they do during their visits.

Results can help bolster infrastructure to support large events in rural areas.

Read more about the eclipse:

Our Coverage of the Total Solar Eclipse

Dress for the Occasion:  What should you wear for the eclipse? Our fashion critic weighs the options , including an unexpected suggestion from scientists.

Free to View:  Six inmates in upstate New York prisons who sued the state won their lawsuit to view the eclipse , arguing it “is a religious event.” But a statewide prison lockdown during the eclipse will remain in place.

Hearing the Eclipse:  A device called LightSound is being distributed to help the blind and visually impaired experience what they can’t see .

Sky-High Hotel Prices: One Super 8 hotel in the eclipse’s path is charging $949 a night . Its normal rate is $95.

Animal Reactions : Researchers will watch if animals at zoos, homes and farms act strangely  when day quickly turns to night.

A Rare Return:  A total solar eclipse happens twice in the same place every 366 years on average. But people in certain areas will encounter April 8’s eclipse  about seven years after they were near the middle of the path of the “Great American Eclipse.”

 No Power Outages:  When the sky darkens during the eclipse, electricity production in some parts of the country will drop so sharply that it could theoretically leave tens of millions of homes in the dark. In practice, hardly anyone will notice  a sudden loss of energy.

Advertisement